Sony Online Entertainment announced that, with the help of EverQuest players, it raised over $20,000 for the Child’s Play 2009 Winter Charity Drive.

Hosting a month-long fundraising campaign to support the charity, SOE pledged to donate $10 each time an EverQuest or EverQuest II player bought a Child's Play virtual item in the MMORPG's marketplaces.

To purchase the Child's Play item, players needed to use Station Cash, Sony's in-game currency introduced last December. The Station Cash microtransaction platform enables subscribers to buy items from Sony's virtual marketplaces with real currency.

Established in 2003 by the authors of popular gaming web comic Penny Arcade, Child's Play is a game industry charity dedicated to providing children with toys and age-appropriate games at more than 40 hospitals worldwide.

"The ability of our players to make a donation of this magnitude in these tough economic times is beyond anything we could have hoped for," says SOE president John Smedley. "As we continue to diversify with programs like Station Cash we will be able to offer unique items that benefit not only our players, but other partnerships and organizations such as Child’s Play in this case."